


Blue Flowers in a World Painted Red

by orphicsheep



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Bad Parenting, F/F, Fairy Tale Elements, Fake Marriage, Found Families, Mutual Pining, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 08:55:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20043307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphicsheep/pseuds/orphicsheep
Summary: Beau's parents want her to marry the rich boy next door to save the family business; Jester decides to save the day by marrying her first.





	Blue Flowers in a World Painted Red

_“I knew going home would be a bad idea,”_ Beau said, scanning the horizon as the Nein slowly led their cart through the quiet, open streets of Kamordah. Caduceus was steering the moorbounder with Yasha beside him. Jester, Fjord, Nott, and Caleb were in the back of the cart with Beau. It was Spring. All the trees and flowers were in bloom, and the harvests were ripe, and there was fresh fruit and vegetables and wine available for a reasonable price in the open market they passed through on their way to Beau’s family home. It would have been beautiful, if it weren’t so familiar, and full of people she knew. She could see that the others liked it. Jester, in particular, seemed to admire her hometown. She and Nott had gathered up wildflowers while they stopped for their breakfast picnic, and strewn them into little flower crowns they wore in their hair. Jester’s was largely made of daisies. She looked beautiful, as always, but was quieter than usual. Beau kept one eye on the horizon, and another on her. It was not like Jester to be so quiet. Maybe this trip, going home, reminded her of her home. Maybe she was missing her mother. Beau would have to ask her about it, later.

“Can someone please explain to me, one more time, _why_ we’re visiting your family if you hate them so much?” Fjord asked, bluntly. He knew Beau appreciated forthrightness, and wouldn’t take

“They’re my family! They asked me to. I couldn’t say no," Beau replied. She had run ahead to warn them that she was bringing some friends along with her. Ever since she returned, she had been unusually quiet.

“Why not? It’s been, what, five or six years since you left? They’ve survived this long without you.”

“They're still her family! I understand, Beau,” Nott insisted, lightly patting Beau’s arm. "It’s hard being away from your family for so long.”

“I don’t miss them,” she admitted, idly taking in the wide open fields, livestock, and vineyards which passed them by. “When I got the letter, for a moment I thought... maybe enough time had passed, maybe things had changed, but the minute I walked through that door I realised nothing had changed at all. It was still six years ago and everything was exactly how I left it. Nothing ever changes here. Years go by, seasons come and go, but people stay the same, they just get a little greyer around the edges, that's all.”

“That’s very poetic,” Caduceus observed from where he sat at the front of the cart, reins in hand, with his back to them. A freshly woven hat was perched atop both his and Yasha’s heads, hats they had made themselves that morning, when they stopped their makeshift caravan to have breakfast in a meadow.

“It’s not. They’re not… nice people. All my father cares about is making money and preserving the family name. He doesn’t see my brother and me as people, we’re just… parasites, taking food off his plate, and waiting for the chance to collect our inheritance.”

“Do your parents have a lot of money, then?” Caleb asked. Frumpkin was curled up in his lap, purring softly, as he ran a hand over his striped back. Beau knew better than to mistake the fey familiar for an ordinary cat, but… it would have fooled anyone, it played the part so well, when its eyes weren’t glowing, or he wasn’t being transformed into a vulture.

“They _used_ to have money, sure, but... the business isn’t doing as well as it used to. That’s why they wrote me in the first place. Looks like I’m their last resort. That’s how you _know _they’re desperate!” She nearly laughed, but it was a sad laugh. Caleb gave her a worried look, seeing through it at once. So did Nott. Jester was twirling a hand through her hair, and biting her lip, and staring very intently at her boots, deep in thought.

“What do you mean, you’re their ‘last resort’?” Caleb asked, one brow raised.

“I’m not giving them any of my money!” Nott snapped, reaching for her purse and inspecting the contents, just to make sure they hadn’t been robbed during their trip through the farmer’s market. All her coins and buttons were, thankfully, present and accounted for.

“They’ve cooked up some plan to marry me off to Hallon’s son. He owns a vineyard, too, just down the road; they’re lifelong competitors. He thinks if we marry, they can merge, have one big vineyard, and spend the rest of their retirement in a mansion, while me and my brother do all the hard work.”

“Wait, slow down—he wants _you_ to get married? _To a boy?”_ Nott clarified, her yellow eyes wide as plates. Everyone else, in the back of the cart, looked equally surprised by the suggestion. Beau had only just learned of their plan herself a few hours ago. They had conveniently forgotten to mention it in the letter they sent, telling Beau how much they ‘missed her,’ and ‘needed her help,’ and how ‘sorry they were about the way they left things.' Of course it was all lies. For some reason Beau had convinced herself, for a few hours, that they were generally sorry, and sincerely wanted to make amends for the way they shipped off a young Beauregard to the Cobalt Soul then conveniently forgot all about her, cutting off communication for years on end with the threat of a disinheritance if Beau showed her face again. How quickly they changed their tune, when they found out they could not pay their bills without her. Her baby brother was growing up fast, but he was still too young to take one for the team, and the debt collectors were looking more bloodthirsty by the day.

“I told him it was a terrible plan, but he won’t listen to me until I think up a better one. That’s why I’m bringing you guys along. I thought, hey, maybe together, we could come up with one.” She knew it was a longshot, but she was desperate, and she could not think who else to turn to for advice.

“Would your parents really marry you off to this boy just like that, for a few coins and some land?” Caleb asked, snapping his fingers for emphasis. The gesture woke Frumpkin, who had only been pretending to sleep. Caleb resumed petting him dutifully, but his thoughts were clearly elsewhere now.

Beau shrugged.

“Guess so? I don’t know anything about it. Never met the boy. Our families didn’t get along, because they were competitors. It got brutal, back in the day, I’m told, but I always kept my head down. I had bigger problems to worry about, back then, I wasn’t paying attention to _his._ Now… well, I guess they’re my problems, too. I don’t get along with my family, but I don’t want to see them lose their home and have to go begging in the streets, either.”

“It’s not your responsibility to pay for their debts, Beauregard,” Caleb continued, growing angrier by the second. Nott touched his arm, now, and leaned closer, whispering something in his ear. He grimaced and looked away. “I know you care about them, but… surely there are other ways to make money in a pinch. I’m sure together we can come up with something. You have any ideas, Fjord?” He asked.

Fjord grunted, and shrugged his shoulders.

“Can’t think of anything off the top of my head. They make wine, right? Everyone likes wine. It can’t be that hard to turn a profit. Maybe we could run a publicity campaign. _The Best Wine in Exandria!”_

“We had a bad winter. It’s taking them awhile to get back to where they were last summer, and… this guy, Hallon, he’s been buying up a lot of land, expanding his vineyards, cornering markets, offering wine at a discount as long as its served ‘exclusively,’ every trick in the book. My father can’t keep up. He’d lean on my brother, if he were older, but… he’s still just a kid. A merger’s the only way we’ll survive the year, he says, without getting eaten up by Hallon completely.”

“How much money do they need?” Jester asked, breaking whatever vow of silence she had taken that afternoon, while Beau was away.

“I don’t know exactly. Two thousand gold, I think, to be safe; to keep the estate. Then they can ask for a loan to expand their vineyards and try to keep up with this bastard.”

“Two thousand gold doesn’t just grow on trees,” Fjord said, shaking his head. He did not envy Beau’s position, but he did not know how to help her, now.

“I’m aware of that, Fjord. It’s not just that, he… wants to have his own back on this family, but he thinks joining them is the only way to survive. That’s why he doesn’t want me to marry just anyone; it has to be this guy, and it has to be soon, before the debt collectors take away our estate.”

She was still calling it _‘our,’_ force of habit was so strong. It had not been _her_ home for several years now. Perhaps it never was. She had always felt like a stranger there, or a guest who had overstayed her welcome. Time had not changed things much, except now, she knew, her father would be forced to be polite to her, because he needed her. She knew admitting that would hurt his pride, and part of her enjoyed the slow revenge of having turned the tables, even if only temporarily, so that this time _he _was the one who needed _her._ If it was just him… she would probably be happy to leave him to his fate, but she knew her mother and brother did not deserve losing their home because of his mistake.

“Would you really go through with it? You’d really marry this Hallon guy and spend your whole life with him?” Jester asked, a strange note in her voice.

“I’d have to, wouldn’t I?” Beau answered, swallowing hard. She could not think of anything worse than being married to a man, let alone one who was a complete stranger, but at least he would know this was strictly a business arrangement. She would make it clear this was just a business arrangement. There's no way she would give up women for him, or give him children, but... signing a contract which would keep her family off the streets and their pockets lined? That didn't sound so terrible. She could live with that. She could _learn_ to live with that. It’s not like she ever expected to marry for love. Who, in their right mind, would want to marry someone like her?

***

When they arrived, Beau was the first to leap over the side and out of the cart. She extended her arms to help glide Jester down to the ground, then Caleb, who was carrying both Frumpkin and Nott. As soon as his boots touched the solid earth, Nott leapt out of his arms. Frumpkin clung to his shoulders, nestling in the fur collar of his coat and curling his tail around Caleb's neck. Fjord was the last one out. Beauregard knocked on the door, and a servant let them in. Beau’s mother was nothing like her daughter. She was elegant and polite and... cold. Her younger brother eventually appeared, a thin, underfed boy with wide brown eyes, who looked to be in his early teens and spoke very little. Her father was away, but would be back soon. Beau was happy to have a few hours to catch her breath before his arrival. Caduceus and Fjord did most of the talking as they gathered around a table in the main room and sampled some of their family’s own wine.

Beau’s mother said she was happy they brought her daughter safely home, where she belonged; that she was grateful for the courtesy they showed her, by keeping her safe—although Caleb disabused her, immediately, of any notion that _they_ were the one’s looking after her, when she did most of the work, looking after them—and that she was sorry Beau had to put her life of excitement and adventure behind her, to come back home for good. Everyone went quiet after that. When Beau had talked, in the cart, about coming home and taking over the family business, somehow the part where _‘taking over the family business’_ meant _‘not staying with the Mighty Nein’_ had not connected up. Once those who were drinking—everyone but Jester and Caduceus—had finished, they were shown to their respective rooms. They did not have many to go around, as they were not used to entertaining so many guests, but they had a couple of rooms to spare, if they did not mind sleeping on makeshift beds, and doubling up. Fjord and Caduceus were in one room, Caleb and Nott in another, and Yasha had a servant's room all to herself.

Beau and Jester were left to share her old bedroom, which was not at all like Beau remembered it. The head of the bed was at the base of a window in the middle of the room. Her mother had offered a makeshift bed for either Jester or Beau, but both insisted they would be fine sharing a bed. They had shared beds, before, and they were used to being roommates, to the point it felt stranger _not_ sharing a room. It didn't feel right, going to sleep without Jester nearby. There was a heavy chest in the corner, full of Beau’s old things, but the walls had been stripped, and it looked sad and colourless now. All the life had gone out of it. Half the cheap tavern rooms they lodged in had more warmth. Jester swore a vow, the moment she saw those empty white walls glaring at her, that she would paint them every colour of the rainbow if it was the last thing she did. She wanted to make her room bright and happy. Beau gave her artistic vision the go ahead. If she had her way, she would have torn those walls down and started over again from scratch. Her family seemed to have been doing their best to eradicate all memory of her from that house. There were no photos, no clothes, nothing, here, or anywhere in the house, which suggested she had ever lived there. It looked familiar, but it certainly did not feel like home. Xhorhaus felt more like a home to her, and they had only lived there for a few months.

Beau, exhausted after a long day’s travelling, collapsed onto the bed and closed her eyes, arms outstretched as far as they could go. Jester sat down beside her, by the pillow. She lightly trailed a hand through Beau’s hair, pulling free the tie and letting it fall.

“What’s that for?” Beau asked, batting at her hand, and raising herself up, so they were seated side-by-side now. Jester pulled out from her bag of holding a crown she had made of blue forget-me-nots, and slid it over Beau’s head before she could dart away. “I look terrible, don't lie."

“No, you look beautiful! Don't take it off! I made it especially for you,” Jester insisted, braiding her hair before winding it up, so it would not disturb the flower crown. She left the bed briefly, to search for a mirror, than returned, raising the mirror to Beau’s face, with one hand on her shoulder, to show off her handiwork. Beau grimaced. Flowers were not really her thing, but she did appreciate the effort Jester had gone to, weaving them together for her.

“They're my favourite colour. Thanks, Jess,” she said, forcing a smile.

Jester pressed a kiss to her cheek, and Beau closed her eyes and let her without putting up a fight. She blushed, and Jester smiled contentedly, still trailing a hand through a few wisps of hair that had managed to escape the crown. It felt nice, so Beau didn’t complain. She crossed her legs, on the bed, and reached for a book. She had a lot of those. Jester went to inspect her shelves, to see if she could find any interesting ones. She did not have high hopes. Beau mostly read heavy, academic tomes. She had never seen her read a novel, except for the novels they stole from Caleb and read together. She did not have any books like that. She did, however, have a surprising number of books featuring colourful illustrations. 

"I didn't know you liked fairytales!" Jester said as she opened one illustrated in watercolours.

Beau shook her head, and tried to laugh it off. 

"I can't believe they kept all those old books!"

"This is great! I love the pictures!"

"There's more. I... didn't really have a lot of friends growing up, so I read a lot. I thought if I closed my eyes... maybe those stories could come to life. So I collected them."

"Why'd you stop, Beau?" Jester asked, walking a little closer to the bed, book still in hand. There was a picture of a knight on horse back, passing through an enchanted woods.

"It felt... childish, stupid! Real life isn't like that. You don't get rescued by knights in shining armour, you don't defeat dragons..."

"We defeated a dragon!" 

"Okay, maybe the dragons are real, but... you know what I mean. The good guys don't always win. No one falls in love at first sight. You can't bring back the dead or break a curse with a kiss."

"I brought Caduceus back from the dead with a diamond," Jester reminded her with a rueful smile.

"Well, you didn't kiss him, did you? Anyway. You know what I mean. In real life, there aren't always happy endings. Bad shit happens to good people. You can't always tell who the heroes and villains are."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, Beau." Jester answered, turning around to face her, and setting down the book.

She had wanted to distract Beau from her problems, but she knew that wouldn't fix them. They'd have to talk about it, sooner or later. It might as well be now. An idea had come to her in the cart, which she had been mulling over all evening.

A silence settled over them. Beau had taken up a book and started reading it.

“What if you were already married?” Jester asked, suddenly, bringing Beau crashing down to Earth.

Beau lifted her head to peer up over her book at Jester. She must have misheard her. “What was that?”

“What if you were already married? They couldn’t marry you off, then.”

“I don’t understand. Married to... who?” She asked.

“Someone with enough money to pay your family’s bills, so they couldn’t be _too _angry…”

“Who would want to marry someone like me?”

Jester was _not _having that. No one was allowed to say anything mean about Beau; Beau included.

"Anyone would be _super _lucky to marry you! You're so strong, and beautiful, and cool..."

Jester began, counting off her fingers as she extolled each of Beau's many virtues.

Beau grabbed hold of her arm, stopping her short.

"Thanks, Jes. You're really sweet. But I need _a name, _or we're back to square one."

Jester bit her lower lip, turning to catch Beau's eyes. She was still holding onto her arm. It felt nice, to be so close to her. Comfortable. Safe.

“We could always get married. I have plenty of money back home. I can ask Mama to send some, like that.” She snapped her fingers for effect.

Beau sighed, and let go off her arm. She knew Jes was just trying to be a good friend. A good friend, who liked Fjord, and could only ever be a friend. She could not even imagine dating Jester, let alone marrying her. She was off-limits.

“It's kind of you to offer, Jester... you’re a doll, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but... I would never ask you to go through all that trouble just to do me a good turn, okay? You keep your money.”

“I don’t mind, Beau, really I don’t. If it keeps your family safe, and it means you could stay with us, I’d marry you in a heartbeat! You’re my best friend!”

“If you lent me the money, I would pay you back, as soon as we earned it. I’m not stealing your money. And I’m not marrying you, either, that’s… this whole plan is ridiculous!”

Beau still thought she was joking, that the offer wasn't serious, or she wouldn't mean it if she knew what she was getting herself into. She knew. She meant it.

“Would you rather marry some stranger who isn't even the right gender, or your best friend, who is way more fun?”

Looking at Jester, in her bed of all places, made this conversation so much harder to have. She loved Jester! She was the best friend she had ever had! If she were being completely honest with herself, however, she would have to admit that she loved Jester more than she should, more than she had any right to. Jester was gorgeous, and sweet, and fun, and generous, and… could do no wrong, even when she did. Jester, who never failed to make her smile, who never failed to brighten her day, and her life, was offering, now, to save her family from ruin, by marrying her with a dowry of_ two thousand _gold coins. There was no way she could accept. There was no way this could end well. Why did she have to be so beautiful? So friendly? So damn _close, _in that bed they were being forced to share. It wasn't easy sharing a bed with Jester. She'd hog all the blankets, and force Beau to move in close to keep warm, and she’d smile so maliciously, so cruelly, even in her sleep, because she knew precisely what she had done and was doing it on purpose, to torment her, because she _knew_, because she _had to know _that Beau fancied her like mad, and couldn’t stand being teased, unless… unless she didn't now, because she was so oblivious, because all she knew about love stories was what she had read in books, because she didn’t like girls and never looked at them that way, because all she cared about was Oskar or Fjord or whatever hero was on the cover of her latest book.

“Jester,_ I can’t…”_

“I really don’t mind, Beau. We can have sleepovers every night, and dress up, and do eachother's hair, and play games, and drink so much wine we’re sick, and play pranks on the others…”

“We already do all of those things, Jester.”

“So what’s the difference, besides matching rings?” Jester shot back.

Beau went silent for a few long protracted minutes, weighing the pros and cons. Jester tried her best to keep silent, and give her room to deliberate, but her patience soon ran out. She definitely did not want Beau to make the wrong answer.

“If we were married, everything could go back to normal, and we could carry on the way we always have, adventuring and exploring and getting everyone into trouble and… _you’d never have to leave us._ I’d miss you so much if you left, Beau! It wouldn’t be the same without you.”

So that’s what this was about; she didn't want Beau to marry Hallon because that would mean staying here, and breaking up the Mighty Nein. The sad lilt in Jester’s voice was weighing down her heart. She lifted her hands to cup Jester’s face, turning to face her. Jester’s eyes were so wide, so expressive, so deep. Her wild sapphire hair fell in thick curls over her ears and around her horns, crowning her face with its wide lips, broad nose, forked tongue, and fanged teeth, which she flashed enticingly whenever she smiled. Beau had never kissed a tiefling before. She wondered, not for the first time, what it would be like, and whether or not it would hurt. Whether or not she would mind.

“I don’t want to leave you behind, either, Jess, but this… is an awfully big decision to make on the spur of the moment, don’t you think? We need to think this through, we need to…”

The door opened. Her mother. Beau instinctively moved her hands away from Jes and pushed herself a little further away on the bed, like she was young again, getting caught with Tori. Jester simply kept where she was and merely turned her head to smile politely at Beau’s mother. 

“Oh, my dear, excuse me! I brought a basin of water for you and… your guest. Would you like me to come another time? Or I could just… set it here. Yes. Dinner will be ready soon.” She abruptly set down the basis, got up, and departed, closing the door behind her, before Beau had time to formulate a coherent response.

Jester delighted in seeing Beau flustered. She leant forward, cupped a hand over Beau’s ear, and whispered: “I bet she thinks we were in here kissing.”

Beau moved back, and scowled. “Jester, please!”

“We’ll have to kiss at least once if we get married. I don’t think it’s legally binding if you don’t kiss at a wedding ceremony. I don’t know what the law says about tongues, but I can ask my lawyer…” Jester was teasing her. On purpose. She had to be. _Wasn't she?_ Beau wondered. She was losing her train of thought. “Unless you don’t_ want_ to kiss me?”

Beau shook her head, resolutely. She had to draw the line somewhere, before Jester got any more ideas, and started sending invitations.

“There’s not going to be a ceremony.”

“Fine, no ceremony. Just sign a few papers. But I _am _going to buy a new dress, you can’t stop me.”

“Jester… this is serious. Marriage is a serious thing for some people.”

She rolled her eyes. Beau was making a bigger ordeal of this than she had to. It could be so simple, if she just said: _yes._

“People get divorces every day!” She insisted, then edged closer, slinking a hand around Beau’s back and over her shoulder. “Anyway, I’m better than marrying some boy you’ve never met, aren’t I?”

Beau had to admit that, given the choice, she would much rather marry Jester than… well, anyone… but she did not like the idea of _coercing _someone into a marriage with her. This was _her _problem. She could come up with a solution herself. She did not want Jester to feel obligated, just because they were friends. _Especially_ because they were friends.

“What about Fjord? You like Fjord.”

“Not anymore. I liked Fjord when I thought he was Oskar, but… then I found out he wasn’t like Oskar at all, I’d just got the two confused. Anyway, I’d rather marry you. Fjord spits up swords in his sleep.”

“That would sound a lot more flattering if you left out the last part,” Beau replied, shaking her head, before finally raising a hand to lightly pat Jester’s face. “You’re really one in a million, you know that, don’t you?”

Jester nodded confidently, eyes glittering, as she twisted those soft blue lips into a mischievous smile.

_Of course she knows. She's wonderful, and gorgeous, and everyone who has ever met her cannot help but fall in love with her, _Beau thought, forgetting to blink.

“I know I’m going to regret this, but… Jester, would you marry me?” She said, although she could not believe those words were her own the moment they left her.

Never, in a million years, had Beau expected to propose marriage to her best friend on the bed of her childhood room. It felt strange, being there with her, two worlds colliding she never expected to meet. Two worlds which never had any reason to meet. If she had her way, she would never have introduced Jester to her family. She liked Jester too much to mingle memories of _her _with memories of _them._ The memories of her were too good.

“I’m going to need a ring. A_ really_ shiny one.” 

Beau searched her pockets, aimlessly, and scanned the room. Most of her things were either gone or shoved in a box. None of the cheap tat she used to wear would be of any interest to Jester, anyway. She had a taste for the finer things. She was used to them. This wasn't a great start. _She deserves better. She deserves the world. I can't even find a fucking ring!  
_

“I don’t have one. Maybe tomorrow we can go to town and look for a ring...”

_“Two_ rings. One for you and one for me.”

“Deal.”

Jester threw her arms around her neck and hugged her.

“…Is that a yes?” Beau asked when she pulled away. It certainly _felt_ like a yes, but this was her first time proposing to someone. She had to make sure.

“Of course I’ll marry you, Beau!” Jester said, holding on so tight she nearly winded the monk. Jester’s hugs always threw Beau a little. She was so much stronger than she looked at first glance, both inside and out. As Beau tried to unravel herself from Jester’s arm, she heard a voice calling them downstairs. Dinner was ready. Beau took a deep breath, wondering how, exactly, they were going to break this news to her family and friends. She was hoping they could, at the very least, put it off for a day or two, so they could prepare a good story. How they met, how they fell in love, how they got married, _why_. She had not even gotten around to asking _herself_ why! She was already dreading this confrontation, afraid it would mirror others. Before she could open the door to her bedroom, Jester appeared by her side, and took up her hand, firmly lacing together their fingers. “Don’t worry. We’re in this together, remember?” She said with a warm smile. Beau nodded her head, and pressed her hand. Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard, after all. Maybe they could even make it work. Marrying your best friend could be fun, if it paid their debts and kept her family off the streets… where was the harm?


End file.
